PFA Tips: Why My Son is Awesome
By Shelly McLaughlin, Pathfinders for Autism
In keeping with this month’s theme “Awesome for Autism,” allow me to reflect a bit on what makes my son awesome.
My son is the only 13 year old I know who dresses like Hugh Heffner to go out on the swingset.
He offers to read me a bedtime story when I’m sick.
He randomly blurts out, “Mom, how are you doing?” because they practice that phrase at school.
I am amazed by his ability to look at a pile of 4,000 grey Legos and immediately spot the piece he needs as though it has popped off the table. (You Lego fans are yelling “Death Star and Star Destroyer!” right now, aren’t you.)
We have a half-crazed puggle (although only “half” is debatable…) named Scrappy. One morning he was rolling around on his back and kicking a blanket in the air. When I suggested to Hunter, “Your dog is so weird,” he replied, “Maybe he has something in his ear that’s bothering him. And so what looks weird to you makes sense to him.”
He strategically bypasses me and goes straight to Grandmom with his exorbitant Christmas and birthday gift wish list.
He proudly sports a hair “style” somewhere between Einstein and Don King, proclaiming it’s “in.”
He isn’t bound by a traditional definition of “friend.”
Hunter really wants to teach others about autism and has NO hesitation to announce he is on the spectrum (for anyone who remembers his video bomb during my FOX interview).
He walks into Target, sees something his sister likes, and uses his gift card to buy it.
No matter how casual the meal, Hunter sets the table with a 42 piece place setting.
Hunter will tell someone straight up if they annoy him. That seems harsh, but at least no one wonders how he feels or has to guess.
He hates sports but tolerates me taking over the TV to watch games and will almost willingly wear sports team shirts at my enthusiastic insistence.
When he says things like, “Do you know the beauty of nothingness? It’s that you have to use your imagination.”
His superhuman taste buds can detect trace amounts of herbs. If he didn’t have such food aversions I’d get him a job as a food critic.
My house looks like an origami museum with all of my walls (and sometimes ceilings) randomly covered in his paper cut-out designs.
Whenever I forget a password, he offers to hack into the site.
I appreciate that he has given me a broader perspective than I ever imagined I could have.
He keeps me motivated to go to the gym by constantly baking banana muffins (whether we are out or not).
Hunter can do anything on his phone, including completing all of his homework through his creative use of apps. Well, everything BUT answer the phone when I call…
All he wanted for his 13th birthday was a 9:00 bedtime. Except, because of his medications, he puts himself to bed by 8.
He makes me feel like a Hollywood star since I’m constantly walking onto his movie sets, tripping over mounds of extension cords, accidentally speaking during his “takes”, and flubbing up his special effects.
© 2015 Pathfinders for Autism